Joe Arpaio's campaign mailers violate rules, elections panel finds

by Yvonne Wingett - Aug. 24, 2010 07:00 PMThe Arizona Republic

A committee established by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio that funded recent ads critical of County Attorney candidate Rick Romley could face penalties because certain mailers do not comply with state campaign-finance provisions.

Chad Willems, Arpaio's campaign director, said he would appeal an order issued Tuesday requiring the campaign group, Campaign to Re-Elect Joe Arpaio 2012, to disclose how much it spent on the fliers so that a financial penalty can be calculated and imposed.

The order issued on behalf of the Maricopa County Elections Department says any remaining funds in the committee's control must be disposed of through means spelled out in campaign-finance statutes. Disposal of money can include retaining surplus money for a subsequent election, donating it to charity or returning the money to donors.

The order authored by Jeffrey Messing, an attorney and special counsel to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, said the Arpaio committee sent out mailers that effectively advocated against Romley or in favor of Romley's Republican primary foe, Bill Montgomery, in Tuesday's election.

The order also says the committee does not qualify as an "independent expenditure" group under state law because Arpaio has expressly been authorized to raise and spend money on behalf of Montgomery's campaign.

Arpaio's camp has said the ads were launched as part of the sheriff's 2012 campaign for re-election. The order said that while a case to that effect could be made for television ads that aired recently, the same could not be said for mailers.

The order determined that the TV ads were legal, but the direct mailer, which lists criticisms of Romley, was not.

"As the 2012 Committee's expenditure for the mailer does not meet the definition of an independent expenditure, it is an in-kind contribution to William 'Bill' Montgomery," the order concludes. "As that contribution exceeded $390, the 2012 Committee is subject to a civil penalty of three times the amount by which the cost of the mailer exceeded $390."

According to the order, Arpaio's committee so far has failed to inform elections officials of the cost to produce the mailers. Within 20 days, the committee must inform elections officials of the cost to prepare, print and deliver the mailers. Within the same period, Arpaio's committee also must stop calling itself an Arpaio re-election campaign.

Over the last several weeks, Arpaio's campaign aired the television ads attacking Romley and sent out the mailers. Romley's campaign complained to election officials that the sheriff was illegally stumping on behalf of Montgomery.

Private attorney Michael Manning, who counseled Romley on a complaint against the ads, said the order was significant.

"This order declares (Arpaio's) 2012 committee to be a ruse, actually created to support Bill Montgomery," Manning said, adding that Romley is "relieved and pleased that the (election) department had the courage to stand up to what was clearly a pretty serious election law violation."

Willems, though, said the sheriff's campaign is prepared to fight the order. He maintains County Recorder Helen Purcell and her office should not have handled Romley's complaint against the ads, since Purcell circulated petitions for Romley, her longtime friend.

"Jeff Messing - and the county recorder and that office - is clearly doing Romley's bidding on this," Willems said. "There's no other reason that they would now come out with this on an Election Day - to make some news. The conflict of interest . . . is now more apparent than ever."

According to public records, Messing gave Arpaio's campaign until Monday to report how much money it spent on both the TV ads and the mailers. The campaign did not respond, so Messing issued the order Tuesday.